PokerStars Continues On It’s Road to 100 Billion Celebration

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 by Ryan

PokerStars is currently sitting as the largest online poker site out there today, so it is only fitting that they have one of the largest promotions out there right now. This is there “Road to 100 Billion” celebration, which pays incredible payouts for players who are involved, or win the hand that is dealt for every 5 billion hands. Right now they are heading towards their 70 billionth hand, and it is going to pay out a huge payday to one player who wins the hand. The way that PokerStars done it is so that they also benefit players from hand 69,700,000,000 and on when they are dealt into any of the millionth hands dealt until 70 billion.

The prize pools for every millionth hand are structured to pay the players different amounts depending on how many VIP Player Points (VPP) the player has earned over the last 50 hands that were played at that single specific table. Players will earn $50 for every VIP Player Point that they earn. The winner of each millionth hand is also given double the total prize as well, making the incentive even better. This idea is also used for the 70 billionth hand, but it is modified quite a bit. The idea is that instead of $50 for every VPP, on the 70 billionth hand players will earn $500 for every VPP point during the last 50 total hands. There is also a base prize included as well of $500. That’s a nice little bonus just for playing in a hand, but the most incredible thing is that the winner of the hand will automatically win $70,000.

The VIP Player Points are based off of the amount of rake that is taken from a pot. It also depends on how many seats are used at a specific table, as tables with eight players or more receive 6 points for every $1 in the pot or 8.5 points for every €1. At that point, all of the VPP’s are divided among players who take part in the hand. If a table has less than seven seats, it is 5.5 points divided for every $1 in rake or 8 points for every €1. For the lower limits of Pot Limit and No Limit games, it doesn’t matter how many players are playing at the table, as the VPP multipliers are set at 10, 8.5, and 7 points for each of the Microstakes levels up to $.05/$.10 levels.

These milestones have been a huge hit at PokerStars in the past, and draw in an incredible amount of traffic. At times in past milestone events, players couldn’t even find seats to sit in as the big hand got closer! The hand will pause when it is about to be dealt, and you always want to be sure to stay in the hand if you get dealt in! Especially on the 70 billionth hand, if you fold, you could miss out on the chance to take home the $70,000 grand prize! Typically a PokerStars representative will get on the chat in the table and explain what is going on, so it is definitely recommended to keep your chat open and stay prepared.